1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gaming machines, and in particular to a player selectable bonus round controlled by a central server.
2. Related Art
Games of chance have been enjoyed by people for many years and have undergone increased and widespread popularity in recent times. As with most forms of entertainment, some players enjoy playing a single favorite game, while others prefer playing a wide variety of games. In response to the diverse range of player preferences, gaming establishments commonly offer many types of games and attractions associated with these games. The attractions commonly take the form of enhanced bonuses, awards or prizes. For many players, playing new games or involvement with the various attractions adds to the excitement of “gaming.”
As is well known in the art and as used herein, the terms “gaming” and “gaming devices” are used to indicate that some form of wagering is involved, and that players must make wagers of value, whether actual currency or some equivalent of value, e.g., token or credit. This is in contrast to the playing of non-wagering games, which implies the absence of a wager of value, and the possibility of receiving a payout; and in which skill is ordinarily an essential part of the non-wagering game.
One popular gaming system is a slot machine. Conventionally, a slot machine is configured for a player to wager something of value, e.g., currency, house token, established credit or other representation of currency or credit. After the wager has been made, the player activates the slot machine to cause a random event to occur. The player wagers that particular random events will occur that will return increased value to the player. A standard slot machine has a plurality of spinning reels which ultimately stop to display a random combination of some form of indicia, such as numbers or symbols. If this combination contains one or more pre-selected winning combinations, the gaming device releases money into a payout chute or increments a credit meter by the amount won.
Another type of slot machine is a video based gaming device which utilizes modern advancements in computer hardware and software. These electronic gaming devices provide games of chance with computer simulated graphics and offer different types of games such as video poker, keno and blackjack. It is common for these games to have a secondary game, commonly referred to as a “bonus round” that may be triggered from within the base game. The bonus round is used by the gaming establishment to provide the player with increased entertainment value and encourage continued wagering at the gaming device. A bonus round may be a wheel such as IGT's Wheel of Fortune® slot machine. There are also ‘pick and win’ and quest bonus rounds.
There are many different bonus incentives that a gaming establishment may offer to entice a player to place a wager at the gaming device. An example of such a bonus is a progressive jackpot that accumulates over time and increases based on the number of players participating in the progressive jackpot. Another example of a bonus involves a prize such as an automobile or fixed sum of currency. In a prize based bonus, if a player successfully obtains a winning bonus outcome that player is awarded the designated prize. The various bonuses offered by a gaming establishment are commonly assigned to a designated group of gaming devices and the groups are located in a bank of machines within the gaming establishment.
One drawback of existing systems is that in order for a player to participate in different types of bonuses, the player must physically move from one gaming device to another. At first glance, this drawback may not seem to be an overwhelming inconvenience. However, there are subtle undesirable consequences of requiring a player to switch machines in order to participate in a different bonusing scheme.
First, many players are devout in their belief about a “lucky machine” and are very reluctant to release the gaming device to another player. A player will likely become very disgruntled if they leave ‘their’ machine and a subsequent player begins playing the same gaming device and promptly hits or receives a substantial bonus. This situation is exacerbated when the original player has invested quite heavily into their machine just to prime the machine for another player to receive the bonus award. Correspondingly, these types of players are very reluctant to switch to another machine and the various bonuses offered by the gaming establishment may not receive adequate play.
Second, when a player has to relocate to participate in a different bonus, the gaming establishment runs the risk that the player may loose interest in continuing to play the games during the physical transition. This consequence is more prevalent when the player has to travel a substantial distance between machines, as is common in the very large gaming establishments. Additionally, in the now popular mega resorts, a typical player is usually overwhelmed with various stimuli when on the gaming floor. The stimuli are commonly various lounges, restaurants, shows, concerts and interaction with other patrons. A gaming establishment disfavors when a player transitions from an active player that is wagering on the games to a passive patron that is merely enjoying the environment and not wagering. As a result, this may lead to a reduction in player interest in slot gaming, which in turn will lead to a drop in machine revenue.
Finally, when a player has to transition from one grouping of gaming devices to another, the player is not wagering during this time. For smaller gaming establishments, this may not be a severe consequence. However for a major resort, the time interval may exceed 10-20 minutes and this lost wagering time reduces revenue generating opportunity for the gaming establishment.
One proposed solution is to simply include several types of primary games on a single gaming device. This proposed solution does not adequately address the problem however because although the player was provided a variety of primary games at common location, the player is still required to switch locations to participate in preferred bonus games.
Another solution is to have more than one bonus round in one game. One bonus round could be a ‘pick and win’ while another could be a wheel. Each different bonus round is triggered by a different reel combination. Some players may like one bonus round over another on a particular slot machine. If players liked all bonus rounds on a slot machine then there would be more enjoyment for the player. There could be my mystery bonus rounds which are not triggered by a reel combination.
In view of the above, what is needed is a gaming device which provides a player selectable bonus scheme.